June 3 - Josephine Baker (The Musical Birthday Series)

Although Josephine Baker (3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) is best remembered for her charismatic stage performances, she was also a member of the French Resistance in World War II.

Today's offering is a clerihew. The Wikipedia description is accurate: "A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmund Clerihew Bently.  The first line is the name of the poem's subject, usually a famous person put in an absurd light, or revealing something unknown or spurious about them. The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes are often forced. The line length and metre are irregular." 

Two important statements in print on the clerihew are Jacques Barzun's verse introduction to The Clerihews of Paul Hogan (Wesleyan UP, 1985) and Gavin Ewart's introduction to The Complete Clerihews of E. Clerihew Bentley (Oxford UP, 1981).

 Clerihew for JB

Josephine Baker

Didn’t dress like a Quaker,

But it’s hard to embarrass

Paris.